Protecting Rivers & Your Clean Water
Our New Report on Restoring Healthy Flows in Georgia’s Upper Flint River
Ben Emanuel, Associate Director, Water Supply
April 30, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Climate Change, Water Supply
April has been a busy month at American Rivers, with the release of our annual Most Endangered Rivers® list. As you may have noticed, many of the rivers spotlighted on this year’s list are there because of threats related to water quantity, which is increasingly a concern here in the Southeast. That’s the case for the Georgia’s Flint River, where low flows threaten the river’s health throughout its length from Atlanta to the Florida state line.
Read more »Don’t Damage the Wild and Scenic Merced River
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
April 29, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Floods & Floodplains, Wild and Scenic Rivers
Based on our 40 years of experience fishing and paddling the Merced River, we fully agree with American Rivers on including the Merced River as one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers® of 2013. The Merced Irrigation District’s (MID) proposal would raise the storage reservoir (in the wettest years) by 10 feet, and flood part of the Merced that is protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
Read more »Maintain Protections for the Merced River
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
April 29, 2013 | Floods & Floodplains, Most Endangered Rivers, Wild and Scenic Rivers
Highlighting this remarkable network as the most iconic river of the Golden State, the Merced tumbles out of Yosemite Valley and into the Sierra foothills— its protection the result of a popular groundswell and decisive congressional agreements in both 1987 and 1992.
Escaping the rancor that typifies political debates today, this system of protected waterways has never faced a serious effort to undermine its meaning or effectiveness. Until now.
Read more »Healthy Rivers Make Colorado Healthy
Matt Niemerski, Director, Western Water Policy
April 27, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers
Gov. John Hickenlooper has launched a state rebranding initiative, Making Colorado, to stimulate the state’s economy, streamline statewide programs, and reintroduce the state to the rest of the world. Through April 30, the initiative is seeking state residents’ input on what it is that makes Colorado, Colorado.
Read more »Fishing on the Kootenai is Threatened by Coal Mining
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
April 26, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Pollution
Fishing on the Kootenai is Threatened by Coal MiningThere is major concern for the health of the valley’s beautiful Elk River and the downstream Kootenai River (or Kootenay to Canadians). What is now a world-class fishery with amazing dry fly fishing could in the next few years see drastic changes.
Read more »Don’t Bury My River
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
April 26, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Floods & Floodplains
My wife and I started visiting the Lazy River Acres area in Knox County, Nebraska in 1971. We bought property adjacent to the Missouri River and built a house in 1977. Since that time, our family has enjoyed the quiet company of the Niobrara and Missouri Rivers.
Read more »Save the Solitude of Shepherd Bend
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
April 25, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Pollution
Shepherd Bend is a large, forested bend on the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River in a remote location with little development, other than some riverfront homes. Folks who live on Shepherd Bend and across the river from it chose to live there because of the peace and quiet, the scenery, and to enjoy the river. It is not uncommon to find local children swimming and fishing in the river. You can always find locals fishing along the river’s banks under large, overhanging trees.
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